EIR/202400412376 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Ardrossan Harbour Taskforce meetings, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and ferries correspondence: EIR release
Information requested
1. Could you supply all minutes from Ardrossan Harbour taskforce meetings held over the last six months?
2. Could you supply all analysis done on LNG fuel and if it is still environmentally friendly due to the tankers being brought up from Kent, done in the past two years?
3. Could you supply all the correspondence and documentation held, including briefings, about the sacking of David Tydeman? -How much has it cost to recruit his replacement, with a breakdown of these costs?
4. Could you supply all the correspondence and documentation held, including briefings, about Ferguson Marine and the small ferries contract as written about here -https://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/ferguson-marine-award-contract-for-seven-newcalmac- ferries-to-shipyard-gmb-union-4541018
5. Could you supply all the correspondence and documentation held, including briefings, about the sacking of Robbie Drummond from CalMac? -How much has it cost to recruit his replacement, with a breakdown of these costs?
Response
As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your entire request under FOISA.
This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
1. I can confirm that the Ardrossan Harbour Task has met on the 16 May 2024. The minutes will be published on the Transport Scotland website once said minutes have been approved by members and co-chairs of the Ardrossan Harbour Task Force. Prior to this, the Ardrossan Harbour Task Force last met in March 2023.
2. I enclose a copy of the LNG Carbon Emissions Report undertaken by CalMac and published on 11 January 2024 titled Annex A.
3. I enclose a separate response to this part of your request dealt with under Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) titled Annex B.
4. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under the exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs a public authority may refuse a request for information if it is 'manifestly unreasonable'. The Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance on the regulation 10(4)(b) exception at http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Law/EIRs/EIRsExceptions.aspx says that there may “be instances where it is appropriate for the Commissioner to consider the proportionality of the burden on the public authority in terms of the costs and resources involved in dealing with a request when considering the application of this exception”.
5. I enclose a separate response to this part of your request dealt with under Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) titled Annex C.
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Detected exemption language
We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your entire request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under the exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs a public authority may refuse a request for information if it is 'manifestly unreasonable'.